The Rejected and Heartless Luna

Happy Birthday

Mckenzie

It's been a year since we moved, and our birthday is approaching at the end of the week when we will turn twelve. Over the past year, Theo and I have been training with Luke and Maggie. Uncle Richard has been impressed by how quickly we learned, and we have since advanced to be trained by him and Max. Occasionally, Uncle Luke allows us to patrol around the territory. As our birthday nears, our wolves have been feeling increasingly restless every day.

We haven’t told anyone that we started talking to our wolves when we were seven years old. At that time, we didn’t understand why we could communicate with them before we officially received our wolves at sixteen. On the day of our birthday, my wolf, Lavender, and I had a conversation. "I’m happy about our birthday today, Zee," Lavender said as I prepared for training. "I know. Do you think Theo and I will be able to shift?" I asked her. "You’ll have to wait and see," she giggled, causing me to roll my eyes at her.

Once I get to the training grounds, I see Theo with Luke and Maggie. "Hey guys, don’t we have training right now?" I signed, looking at everyone with a questioning look.

“Whoa, um, Mckenzie, what happened to your hair?” Maggie asks, her eyes wide with surprise.

I look at her confused, my hair has always been black like Theo’s. “What do you mean? My hair is the same as always,” I signed again, glancing at my hair and back at her again.

Maggie takes my hand and leads me over to Uncle Richard and Max, with Theo and Luke following close behind. “Dad, look at Mckenzie’s hair! It’s changed to a silver colour!” Maggie exclaims as we get closer. Her dad turns around and looks at us, shocked. “I'll say, even your eye colour has changed,” Uncle Richard remarks as he stares at me.

“I don’t know what’s going on. Doesn’t Theo have any changes?” I sign, looking over at Theo, who just shrugs.

“Come on, sis, it’s okay. It actually looks pretty cool,” Theo says reassuringly.

I sighed, frustrated as I looked at them. "I didn’t look in the mirror this morning as I got ready for training," I signed as I looked at them.

“It’s okay, I have a compact mirror if you want to take a look,” Maggie tells me as she pulls it out of the bag that she always carries. I nod my head as she hands it over to me.

“Why did this happen to me? I’m already a mute, and now this,” I whined to Lavender as she just giggles at me.

“It’s going to be okay. Plus, Theo and you are special. He will change soon too, just like you,” Lavender tells me before closing the link between us.

I signed to Theo what Lavender had just told me. A shocked look appeared on his face, making me giggle at his reaction. “I’m going to ask Sunny about it,” Theo said, eager to confirm the news.

“I want to go train now, so I’ll talk to you guys later,” I signed as I was about to walk past Uncle Richard. He gently grabbed my arm, stopping me. “Hold on, Mckenzie. It’s yours and Theo’s birthday today, so you have the day off from training. Your Aunt Mary wants to take you both shopping today,” Uncle Richard said, pointing over to Mary who was waving at us.

“Wait, why do I have to go shopping with Aunt Mary and Mckenzie?” Theo complained as Aunt Mary got closer to us.

“Well, my dear Theo, your mother asked me to take you both with me. And don’t worry, Luke and Maggie are coming with us too,” Aunt Mary said as she reached us.

“I don’t want to go either. I want to train,” I signed to Theo as we both sighed.

“We are just going to grab you both some clothes for your party tonight,” Aunt Mary says as she drags us away with everyone else laughing at us.

As we climbed into Aunt Mary’s car, I couldn't help but feel a sense of dread. Shopping was not my favorite activity, especially when I could be training. Theo seemed to agree, his expression mirroring my own reluctance.

We drove through the bustling streets, the city alive with activity. Aunt Mary chatted animatedly with Luke and Maggie, while Theo and I exchanged resigned glances. The journey felt longer than it actually was, the anticipation of an entire day spent shopping looming over us.

Finally, we arrived at the mall. The grand building stood before us, its entrance inviting yet daunting. Aunt Mary led the way, her enthusiasm unwavering. Theo and I trailed behind, our pace slow as we braced ourselves for what was to come.

The mall was crowded, filled with people bustling from one store to another. Aunt Mary’s voice rose above the noise, guiding us towards the first shop. I glanced at Theo, who rolled his eyes dramatically, eliciting a giggle from me.

“That’s what you said last time, and it took us a whole day just to come back home,” Theo whined as I giggled. Aunt Mary just rolled her eyes at us.

“I don’t know why you both hate shopping so much, because when you get older you need to go shopping for things for yourselves,” she said as we got to the first store that was a boutique, Aunt Mary and Maggie dragged me to the racks of dresses to try on for my birthday party tonight.

After searching the store for about thirty minutes and trying on various dresses, I began to feel frustrated. I continued my search until I found a beautiful lavender mermaid-style dress. I took it off the rack and quickly returned to Aunt Mary and Maggie to show them my find.

"Oh my gosh! That dress looks beautiful," Maggie exclaimed as she admired the dress I held. "Well, all we need now are shoes to match your dress," Aunt Mary said with a smile.

I beamed at both of them and smiled broadly. We paid for our dresses and proceeded to the shoe store, which offered high heels, ballet flats, and more. I found a pair of lavender flats to complement the dress. After hours of shopping, my feet were sore, and I felt exhausted.

"Can we go eat? I'm hungry," I signed to everyone. We then sat down at the food court. Aunt Mary and Maggie went to get some burgers and fries. I looked at Theo and signed, "What do you think Mum is planning for our birthday tonight? Lavender thinks Mum has accepted Max as her mate." Theo thought about it and replied, "I'll be happy if Mum does. I see Max as a dad, and he has been coming over every day to spend time with Mum." Just then, Luke, Maggie and Aunt Mary returned to our table.